Around Australia Rally hots up

8:30 PM Sun 25 Oct 2009 GMT

'The remote Buccaneer Archipelago - how would you like to sail here?' .

While the Around Australia Rally will not begin until 2011, slot reservations have been coming in fast and have now reached a total of 170. Naturally, there will be dropouts, but there will also be many yachts yet to make the decision to join the rally, so the event is looking to be a runaway success. West Australia's sail training ship, the STS Leeuwin will accompany the rally, acting as net control, media vessel and as a function base.

There are still 12 months to go before rally slot reservations officially close.

Exotic locations, plenty of sightseeing time - .. .

The interesting thing about this rally is that you can join the rally almost anywhere you please. For international yachts, who mostly arrive from the Pacific, this means you can have a wide choice of start points up the east coast of Australia, or even wait to get to Darwin to join the rally itself. (After all, you will probably be planning to return there if you are on a circumnavigation).

See Australia’s outback - on the Rally it won’t be far away - .. .

As the greatest concentration of yacht ownership is in the eastern states of Australia, it also means that there will be a large proportion of the fleet starting there.

The first Rally yachts will start from Perth in January 2011. Then other yachts will join as the fleet calls into ports around the country, and the timing of the legs has been planned to coincide with the best season for travelling.

The Rally fleet will be at is its maximum when it reaches Darwin in late July 2011, when the last of the circumnavigating rally boats will join. The fleet will then sail on to what will arguably be the highlight leg of the journey, across the jagged, stunningly beautiful and almost uninhabited North West Coast. It's then down the coast to Perth by October 2011.

Around Australia Rally timing - .. .

The Perth Rally yachts will have then completed their circumnavigation. They also be very useful to the balance of the yachts in giving advice about the legs to come. The balance of the fleet will continue on for the fascinating and challenging crossing of the Great Australian Bight and on to their home port.

While the rally yachts are in Perth, there will be time to tour West Australia or join the Fremantle Race Week Regatta. All along the route there will be time for touring and sightseeing.

Joining the STS Leeuwin as crew:

Around Australia Rally - STS Leeuwin - base for scheds and sundowners - .. .

The STS Leeuwin can accommodate 40 'voyage crew' over and above the ships regular crew and provide a once in a lifetime opportunity for 'youth of all ages' around Australia, and from overseas, to 'sail before the mast' and experience the glory of a three-masted barquentine under full sail adventuring her way around the coastline of Australia.

If your family or friends of colleagues are interested to join the 'Leeuwin' for a voyage long or short during the Around Australia Ocean Race and Rally period please send us an email at info [at] sailaroundaustralia.com.au indicating the section of coastline that is of interest. Indicative costs are AU$250 per person per day. Get in early as organisers expect that bookings will fill up fast. Enquiries from corporations are welcomed.

For all enquiries about the Around Australia Rally, go to the Around Australia Rally website

by Nancy Knudsen